Monsters
by Optronix Prime
Summary: AU - Monsters are always lurking in the shadows, out of sight and usually out of mind; but being a monster is a whole lot different than being afraid of them. Join Jazz and his family's struggles in a world where being a monster is a terrible thing. The only thing worse is the race against the clock. Will the hunter get the hunted or will something else get to them in the end?
1. The New Kid

**Disclaimer: I do not own Transformers.**

There was something about her that many bots found eerie. That being said, they avoided her if they could and if they couldn't, she wasn't spoken to. It wasn't all Pixie's fault that her classmates had functioning sixth senses, but could she really blame them? She was a monster, to say the least, and no one but her creators knew. Pixie was unlike the rest of her class; she could hear every little whisper, see every little speck in the air, and feel different sensory stimulation than seeker wings. Pixie was stronger and faster than the rest of them, and far more intelligent, but they didn't know. She hid her optics behind her visor, shielding them from the rays of Cybertron's star in order to prevent her from feeling a painful burning surge throughout her frame.

Like all mornings, Pixie sat up from her lounge chair after an uneventful night of staring at the two moons. She couldn't ever sleep; the most she did was nap to sate the half of her frame that required rest. With the grace of a feline, she found her way to her home's kitchenette. Only her Carrier used it since he was the only one who really needed fuel. Pixie occasionally did too. Surely enough her Carrier was up and about, sipping his warm energon.

"How did you rest?" Prowl asked as he set down his half-empty cube on the table, leaning back leisurely into the chair.

Pixie gave him a single shoulder shrug, making her way to the second cube that Prowl had set out for her. Steam flowed atop it from the heat of the energon, swirling above it before it disappeared. She collected the cube into her servos and gave it a gentle blow before taking a large gulp. The heat of her energon hardly bothered her and she relished the feel of her frame shivering at its warmth as it spread throughout her cold frame.

"It was alright. Stared at da moons fer da majority of da night."

Prowl hummed as he reached for his cube, taking another swig. "They are quite lovely when the star shines on them at night."

"Yeah."

Silent fell over the two for a moment until Jazz emerged from the balcony, striding in with a gentle smile as he gazed at his family. "Fine, mornin'. Don't cha think?"

Prowl stood up from his chair, approaching his mate with a kiss.

"Mornin', Sire." Pixie greeted. The black and white mech found his daughter and he smiled, beckoning her to come. She set down her empty cube and joined his embrace, nuzzling his neck.

"Mornin', babycakes. Ya ready fer school?" Jazz heard her groan.

"Sire, Ay don't wanna go anymore. Can't Ay go wit cha instead?"

"Sweetspark, weh talked 'bout his. Ya can't come wit meh yet." Jazz said with a sigh, stroking her helm.

"It's gettin' borin' an' lonely. There isn't anyone Ay can talk ta." she insisted. "It gets more an' more lonely..."

Her creators frowned. They knew she was going to eventually feel lonely. When Pixie was young, she wanted to go to school, to learn and have friends, but Pixie soon learned that she was going to be known as a monster after her only friend had died in an accident she had provoked. Since then, she never tried to fit in. She stayed in the back, watching in envy and jealousy as everyone else became friends with each other. Jazz knew she needed to find a companion in order to feel accepted, but Pixie kept isolating herself from everyone around her.

"Pixie, just ah few more months, okay?"

Pixie looked at the floor, pushing away from her Sire. "Yeah. Sure, whatever..."

The pair watched her go, collecting her datapads from the desk beside the door and leaving. Prowl sighed loudly rubbing the base of his chevron with his digits. "Jazz... she needs somebody."

"Ay know." the other said.

The Praxian turned towards his mate, an almost pleading look in his optics. "Can't we have another sparkling?"

Jazz contemplated on his answer that had been the same for vorns. He didn't want to run the risk of them being discovered, but Prowl had become rather insistent now that their only femme was nearing adulthood. "Ay'll... think about it."

Prowl's hope lifted and he pecked his mate's cheek.

Jazz smiled softly before he grinned, fanged dentas flashing. "Now, where's breakfast?"

Today, something smelled interesting. Pixie had been used to the dull and bland smell her school and its students had to offer, but now there was something delectable. Her wings perked up the moment she stepped through the front threshold and she took a whiff. Who on Cybertron possessed this smell? It made her mouth water at the thought of how savory and delicious the smell could have tasted. Before Pixie knew it, she was following the scent through the crowd of students; many of them looked at her, wondering where she was headed before going back to the interest of their groups. Her optics darted between the different bots, dismissing them as she immediately recognized them and their dull smell. Pixie screeched to a halt as the owner of the scent was just a few steps away.

Helios was intently looking over his schedule and school map, trying to match up his room numbers to the map and finding the best route to all of them. He didn't noticed the winged femme staring at him in interest. The young mech grumbled to himself.

"If this school wasn't so fragging big..."

"Ay can help ya."

Helios jumped in surprise, almost dropping his datapads. He clutched the map and schedule to his chest, optics focusing on the femme in front of him. "Oh! Um..."

The mech felt his spark flutter, a knot forming in the back of his intake as he briefly looked over the black and white femme. His optics lingered at her wings, white panels bobbing almost excitedly up and down. Pixie could hear his spark pulse accelerate slightly, making the rich scent even sweeter. She watched the mech fumble for words as she showed him a soft smile, one that she reserved for herself.

"S-Sure. I could use all the help I can take. I-I came from Tyger Pax so I haven't the slightest clue." Oh dear Primus, Helios thought to himself. She was cute!

"What's yer first class?" Pixie asked.

Helios looked down at his small stack of datapads, flushing yet again as he tried to find the one with his schedule. He pulled out his schedule and handed it to the femme.

Pixie glanced at it and cringed.

"Mecha Anatomy?"

"Yeah." he looked at his pedes, shuffling. "I'd like to be a medic, like my Carrier."

She continued to look over his schedule. "Yeah, Ay noticed. Ay can show ya where yer classes are."

Helios smiled. "Thanks."

"No problem."

If Pixie hadn't had super being hearing, she wouldn't have heard the voices whispering about her as she passed. Unfortunately, she did have an acute sense and could hear them.

"What is a mech like him doing something like that?"

"Why is the recluse talking with the newbie?"

"When is the freak going to just drop dead? She doesn't belong with him."

It hurt. Those words hurt, but Pixie didn't show it. She couldn't let them know.

Pixie was a mess of emotions. She loved going to school because it meant she could be with Helios, but it was hell for it meant she would have to endure the whispers of her peers. At home the loneliness was even worse. No one to talk to, no friends to go hang out with; she didn't have anyone. Pixie couldn't even sleep her troubles away because she didn't recharge. Being a monster made it hard for her to be normal, to enjoy the simple things in life.

Third term was set to start in a decacycle, which is when Pixie was pulled aside along with another femme she had seen, but never actually talked too before.

"Alright, now you've both been struggling in your core classes and your teachers believe you need to have some additional help," the femme was telling them. Additional help?! Pixie was ten times smarter than every bot in this jailhouse. She just didn't try, didn't try at all; at least until the last couple decacycles.

Everything about Helios captivated her: he way he looked, how he acted, his opinions on the world, and, of course, that delicious smell coming from him. Helios was different from the rest of the entire school and she liked it.

Pixie quivered a bit, a new smell hitting her hard. She turned and the femme next to her was on her peds, shouting at the femme about her grades and how hard she tries. Suddenly, she'd become interesting too. Since Pixie had gotten here, nothing exciting happened. No fights, spats, absolutely nothing. Everything and everyone was boring.

Watching her, Pixie saw her peds sink into the floor some, a wave of heat rolling over her frame. Pixie hissed, hating the sensation.

"Rhea, please, calm down!" The instructor pleaded. "You are too old for these breakdowns." Rhea's face contorted with rage.

"Too old? Too old?! I'll show you 'too old' you crazy femme!" The heat slamming into Pixie grew more intense, hotter and stronger as Rhea stormed from the room, screaming at the top of her vocal processor as she went.

Pixie smiled. Maybe people here were interesting, she'd just been too bored to notice.

 **A/N: This is an AU set in the G1 universe, co-written with warperchick on**

 **Pixie and Helios belong to warperchick. Rhea belongs to me.**

 **Please review. It's the only way we can get better and hear what you think of our work!**

 **~Nix**


	2. Bully

"How was school today?"

Prowl's question was meant to go unanswered. Usually, Pixie just shrugged and sipped her evening cube silently, but tonight was not like any other night.

Pixie talked more in that one groon and she'd talked in her whole life - from Helios to Rhea and back again. Prowl just sat there, optics wide as Pixie chatted. When Jazz stepped in, he was just as shocked as Prowl was. Whatever had gotten into their little femme?

Before either Prowl or Jazz could get in a word, Pixie popped a question they'd never even thought to consider before.

"Can Rhe come ova? Pwease?"

Jazz looked over at Prowl, Prowl looking back at him.

[[What do weh do? What if da femme figures us out? She can't come ova.]]

[[But Jazz, this is the first friend Pixie has make since she was a youngling. We have to support this. We don't want her to be depressed anymore, do we?]]

Jazz thought about what Prowl was saying as he looked at Pixie. He hadn't seen this kind of happiness in her in years. Maybe they had to take a chance.

"Sire? Carrier? Pwease?" Pixie begged. Jazz exhaled slowly.

"Ya can invite 'er ova, okah?" Pixie lit right up.

"YES! Yes!" Pixie jumped up from her seat and raced back to her room, eager to make it clean for the first time in years for her friend.

Pixie made sure her very special guest felt at home; she bounced in her step, eager to show her to her room and the places Rhea was allowed to roam in her house. Upon first introductions, Jazz was nearly stiff, still uncertain about having the femme coming over and possibly discovering who they really were. It wasn't until Prowl passed him an assuring wave through their bond that everything was going to be alright did he loosen up.

Jazz watched Pixie tug Rhea enthusiastically to her room and he gave a soft sigh. "Neva did Ay think Ay was gonna see 'er so happeh."

Prowl smiled gently, taking his mate's servo and raising it to his lips, a tender kiss placed on his dark knuckles. Prowl spoke with a whisper low enough for Jazz to catch. "With time, babe. Now we have to hope Rhea doesn't ever find out our secret."

Jazz nodded.

Pixie showed her new friend her room, enjoying the rush in her spark as warmth overpowered the naturally grown coldness. Rhea marveled at the size of the room, envious that hers was smaller. "Well, then again," Rhea stated. "You're an only child."

Pixie's wings gave an unseen flicker. "Yeah."

Rhea skipped over to Pixie's lounge chair, plopping gracefully onto it. "Where's your berth?"

"Yer sittin' on et." Pixie's reply came smoothly. "Berths aren't mah thang. Made mah wings feel squished."

"Oh. They make berths for winged bots though."

"Lounge chairs are so much bettah. More cushion. An' Ay don' share mah recharge spot so..."

Rhea giggled. "Not even a quickie?"

Pixie's visor flickered as she blinked. "Um... no? Mah rep at dat school sucks."

Rhea rolled her optics. "Right. That dreadful place. I don't see why. You're so cool." Pixie smiled.

"Thank ya. Yer pretty legit."

"Of course I am!"

A few hours came to pass, hours of watching videos and nonstop talking led the two femmes to breach the subject of their unstable grades. At first, Rhea refused to cooperate, stating that she didn't care about her grades and that it was pointless to even try raising them since they were close to ending the school year.

"I don't understand anything! That's the problem and the fragging teachers are afts." Pixie tried to avoid wincing, well aware of her Sire's all-hearing audio, as Rhea cursed. "I won't be able to scoop up my grades that fast and I refuse to have a tutor."

"Ya don' hafta have ay tutor. Ay can help ya."

Rhea gave Pixie a look of dubiousness. "If your grades aren't as pretty, why are you failing?"

"'Cause Ay don' do tha work. Ay know how ta do errythang, but school's ay waste o' mah time an' Ay don' do et. Ay'm tryin' ta boost mah grades an' Ay can help ya."

Rhea still looked uncertain. "We'll see about it."

After some coaxing, Rhea finally gave in and took up Pixie's offered help. They met in the library after school, when all that were left were the nerds of the student body and they weren't bots that criticized them. Pixie stared intensely at the datapad's screen, making sense of the complex chemistry and physics. "Ef yer sufferin' so badleh, why ya takin' these classes?"

"Reasons." Rhea promptly stated.

Pixie spared her a curious look before looking back at the datapad. "Let's start on tha first chaptah. 'Cause if ya dunno tha basics, ya dunno an-eh-thang."

Rhea snorted. "Let me get my notespad."

"That's ay great place ta start." Pixie giggled.

By the end of their lesson, Rhea could grasp the basics of chemistry and physics. Rhea felt quite proud of herself she could do the first few chapters of the book before harder chapters came into play. The femme questioned Pixie on how she knew to which Pixie replied, "Ay have ay lotta free time."

Rhea snorted in amusement at that. The two walked side by side, exiting the building, chatting casually and Pixie praising Rhea on her progress, only to meet with the school's resident bullies. Fortunately for them, they weren't targeted; Radioactive had done nothing wrong or anything to anger the upperclassmen bullies, but it didn't stop them.

"Is the little nerd gonna go back to Carrier and cry? Bet you are you little nerd, because that's all you do." The largest mech in the group of four reached forward, his dark servo gripping Radioactive's helm fin and tugging the bot forward. The action elicited a sharp yelp from the smaller mech, pain flaring from the unwelcoming grab.

Radioactive managed a glare past his agony, servos clutching at the other holding his fin. "You prey on the weak because you're weak. There are bigger bullies than you and you thi-"

He was silenced with an abrupt punch to his hypergastric region, the wind from his vents flying out of him and he choked.

"Shut up you little fragger!" The offended mech snarled, throwing Radioactive forward into the other bot across the bully.

Rhea practically scowled in furious anger as they shoved the mech around, their laughter sounding sick in her audios. Pixie frowned deeply, intent on ending it, but Rhea beat her to it. With anger fueling her, the femme marched forward, grabbing the ring leader and kicking behind his knee joint. What the offending mech felt was a sharp flash of heat to the back of the knee and shoulder, and he collapsed with a mighty wail. The other three met the glare of the infuriated femme and they growled. "Hey! Frag off femme!"

"Leave him alone!"

"Leave before we slag you too. I'd hate to hurt your pretty face."

"Ay'd like tah see ya try." Pixie growled from behind Rhea. The three mechs jumped back at her deadly glare and they grabbed their leader before scurrying away. No way in Pit were they going to fight her.

Rhea muttered a 'Thanks' behind her before kneeling down, her frame cooling down. She carefully touched Radioactive, her servo quite hot as though she was working her systems way overtime. "Are you okay?"

Radioactive groaned slightly, his frame slightly aching. "Y-Yeah. I-I am..." his dim optics raised, meeting gazes with Rhea. "Thank you."

Rhea managed a smile. "You're welcome."

The mech sat up, rubbing his fin tenderly as he further looked into Rhea's faceplate. "Hey, you're the femme in my science courses!"

She was barely able to hide the flushing on her cheekplates as she nodded. "I was... getting help." Rhea stood up, pulling the mech to his pedes. "Thank Primus I did get help. Those slaggers would have hurt you worse if we hadn't been here."

"Yeah, well, it wouldn't have been the first time. But, thank you. So much." Radioactive offered a smile.


	3. Revelations

Friendship is a funny thing. All of her life, Pixie thought she didn't want it, didn't need it; but now that she had it, she never wanted to let it go. She had, for the first time in forever, a femme she could talk to about anything and not be criticized for it. She didn't think she was weird or creepy. Even better, Rhea actually liked her! Pixie thought it was too good to be true, but then Rhea's friend started hanging out with them too. At first, Pixie thought Radio was going to be hard to handle and just irritate her...but Radio's best friend was Helios. And when Radio came over to be with them at lunch, Helios followed.

"Hey everyone. How's it going?" Radio said as he plopped down next Rhea at the small table in the back corner of the refueling hall. Pixie was very aware of Helios sitting next to her, of how close he was. Pixie's wings trembled without her consent.

Rhea glanced across the table at her, a knowing look in her optics as she rapidly talked to Radioactive about her morning.

"What did you do on this fine day?" Helios asked easily, sipping his cube. Pixie looked at him.

"Oh, well, just ah few uneventful classahs. What 'bout cha?"

To Pixie's great surprise, talking to Helios wasn't as hard as she thought it would be. Yes they'd talked before, but that was just "Where's this? Over there? Thanks." Not actual conservation.

Pixie was happy. She didn't know she could be happy, but she was; and she liked it. She liked being here in the refueling hall with her friends. Everything was getting better.

"Can I tell you something...?" The tone of Rhea's voice unnerved Pixie.

They sat in Pixie's room, in her giant lounging chair. Rhea looked very nervous.

"Everythin' okah?" Pixie prodded gently.

"I'm not supposed to tell, but, you of all people would understand," Rhea babbled softly. What was going on?

"Yer not suppose tah tell what?" Pixie asked, visor dimming in the fading light. They'd been friends for the past few months. Pixie loved everything about Rhea, but sometimes, being around her made Pixie edgy, worried, and more alert than usual. During those times, Rhea smelled...different.

"I'm not...Cybertronian. Not completely, anyway." Rhea voice was hardly more than a whisper. Behind Pixie's visor, her optics widened. A question flooded Pixie's mind instantly. Was there someone else like me out there? Am I not the only monster?

"Den what are ya?"

"I'm...a werewolf," she said in her quietest voice yet. Pixie cringed.

"Yer-yer serious...?" Pixie whispered back. Her spark was slamming hard into its chamber at this point. Rhea nodded.

"My sire...he's full, I'm half. My carrier, she gave me a medical condition that makes it really hard to control my frame temp..." Rhea couldn't look at Pixie. The fear of utter rejection was too great for that. "I already know I'm a monster. You don't need to waste your breath telling me that."

"Ay wasn't gonna," Pixie replied matter-of-factly. "'Cause...Ay'm ah monstah too." Rhea finally looked at her, anger flaring in her optics.

"No, you're not," she growled. "You don't understand what that word really means."

"Yes, Ay do, 'cause Ay'm ah vampire," she responded, just as angry. It was Rhea's turn to be shocked.

"You-you're serious?" she asked in a low voice. Pixie nodded.

"Yer serious?" Rhea nodded back. At the exact same time, they said,

"Our sires are gonna kill us."

The fact that she wasn't the only abnormal being on Cybertron-excluding her Sire - did two things for Pixie: it made her want to leap in joy from the moons and back, and it made her wonder what her Sire did for the majority of the night. She hated secrets for a sole reason: she knew everything. Being kept in the dark was unnerving.

Rhea's secret tumbled around in her processor for the remainder of the orn; Pixie was so grateful that her Sire wasn't in the direct vicinity or Primus knew what would have happened to Rhea. The femme remembered, when she was barely out of sparklinghood, her Sire had come home once looking like he had gone through a shredder. She was instantly ushered away by her Carrier, preventing her from seeing her Sire's damage. Unfortunately, her sharp audios heard him mutter something along the lines of 'Damn dog'. That was the only hint she had to other monsters living on Cybertron and as time had passed, that hint slowly became nonexistent in her processor.

They met the next orn, early in the morning in the school library to aid each other in their language classes. Pixie expected it to be awkward, knowing that she was a rival monster to Rhea, but was surprised to see it be quite irrelevant. Perhaps it was because of the amount of time they had spent together and the high levels of animosity amongst each other. As the library became livelier, Pixie and Rhea left in search of their mech friends. Much to their surprise, they only found Radioactive who looked rather distressed.

"What's wrong?" Rhea asked, concern washing over her as she made way to his side.

Radioactive bit his lip, looking at Pixie. "Helios is in the hospital."

Pixie felt the energon in her fuel lines drop to her peds, her visor blanching. "What happened?"

"Some bots attacked his house, slaughtered his family. Helios was barely alive when the Enforcers found him. And to make it worse, no one knows who those bots were." The mech further explained.

Pixie didn't need any other motive. She turned on heel to the nearest exit, fleeing from school grounds and leaving her friends behind her. Her alt mode took over and she sped to the medical facility. Pixie didn't need to ask where Helios' room was when she arrived; she followed her olfactory sensors to his ICU. She saw him battered and broken; IVs, wires, tubing, and so much more was strewn across his frame. In an instant, Pixie remembered her first friend who was laid out in a similar manner and her spark clenched itself. The femme couldn't help, but think it was all her fault when in reality; she had nothing to do with it. Emotions resurfaced and Pixie began to cry, coolant pouring from her hidden optics and streaking her cheeks. She feared Helios was not going to live, that he would slip away from her grasp. At the very thought of him dying made her dizzy and she gripped the side railing of the med berth, denting it with her unnatural strength. Pixie felt herself become unsteady, her processor swirling.

"Pixie!" She faintly recognized her Sire's voice calling.

Out of all things, Pixie was the last bot Jazz expected to see in the mech's ICU. He rushed forward, catching her in his arms. "What are ya doin' in here?"

Pixie sobbed. "Sire...! He-He can-can't die...! He can't!"

Jazz grimaced, cradling his daughter as he looked at Helios. The vampire growled softly. "He has tah."

"No!" She wailed. "He's-He's tha mech... Ay told ya 'bout...!"

"Pixie. He's tha creation ova vampire huntah."


End file.
